Marasi: The "Other" Miracle Fruit
Sims, J. (1801-1844). Curtis's botanical magazine, or, Flower-garden displayed: in which the most ornamental foreign plants, cultivated in the open ground, the green-house, and the stove, are accurately represented in their natural colours .... [S.l.: s.n.].
There are quite a few plants out there that contain different varieties of non-caloric sweeteners. That in-and-of-itself is a pretty exciting notion, however, there seem to be very few plants on the face of the Earth that contain compounds capable of binding to your tastebuds in away that can temporarily, and completely, alter your actual perception of flavor.
Today we are talking about one of the most obscure plants in that exclusive group.
Like the relatively well-know “Miracle Fruit” (Synsepalum dulcificum), Marasi fruit tricks your mind into perceiving sour flavors as sweet flavors… giving you superpowers that, say, allow you to enjoy eating an entire lemon all at once.
*Is your mind exploding yet? Mine is… pbbtt*
Unlike the Miracle fruit, however, Marasi fruit is incredibly sweet on its own. Not only that, but Marasi has the ability to fool your mind into thinking that even plain water contains sugar.
This is Willy Wonka level stuff, and you have received a golden ticket to a relatively short but fascinating train ride through the doors of perception.
Welcome to the obscurely wild and mind-alteringly wacky world of Marasi:
Curculigo latifolia
Synonyms — Curculigo glabrescens; Molineria latifolia
Family — Hypoxidaceae (Star Grass Family)
Family Characteristics — Hypoxidaceae (Star Grass Family) members grow perennially from an subterranean stem.
Aliases —Broad-leaved curculigo, curculigo; 光叶仙茅 / guang ye xian mao (CHINESE); katari, marasi, parast, pinang puyuh, tjongkok (MALAY), lëmba (BEHASA MALAYSIA).
Binomial Etymology — Curcu- is derived from LATIN meaning “weevil;”lati- and -folia, also derived from LATIN, mean “wide” and “leaf” respectively [1].
Binomial Pronunciation: — coo-cur-LIG-oh ~ lat-ih-FOLE-ee-uh
Marasi Description
The plant has glabrous leaves that are 7-15 in (18-40 cm) long, lanceolate to oblong lanceolate, and tapered at both ends. Their fibrous and thick roots bear short rhizomes and creeping stolons. The six petaled flowers are yellow bearing white oblong to oblong-ovoid berries with somewhat hairy beaks [3].
Marasi Habitat
This plant is known to grow in the swampy jungles of Malaysia, Asia, and Australia [2].
Marasi Ethnobotany
Malaysians of the early 19th century were known to use the leaves of this plant to wrap fruit and fish for sale in local markets [7], and to make textiles. The leaf fibers- liberated by a gentle scraping with a knife- were used to create rope, nets, and blue (dyed) sarongs worn by the indigenous Dayak women of Borneo [4][5][6]. The video below shows traditional Dayak textiles being produced with Marasi fiber.
In Malasia, the fruit is used to sweeten sour dishes [10].
What Marasi Fruit Does to Your Taste Perception
Since the 19th century and untold multitudes of decades prior, the people of Malaysia and Borneo would consume the fruits of cucurligo as a candy and noted a sweet aftertaste that would be further enhanced by eating or drinking things later [5].
The taste modifying protein contained within this plant has been isolated and named neoculin or curculin [7].
A cartoon diagram of neoculin constructed using PyMOL. Image is in the public domain.
This protein is 550 times sweeter than sugar and fools your taste receptors into interpreting sour flavors- and even plain water- as being sweet [8][9].That is to say, biting into a lemon would be like biting into a pleasurably sweet orange after consuming curculio fruit.
In the video below, at the four-minute mark, you can tell what kind profound effect this fruit has on the flavor of citrus fruits and water. Ms. Yusi Ariani also demonstrates the correct pronunciation of Marasi, and shows us what the fresh fruit looks like. Thank you, Ms Ariani!
